Euroscene/Paddy Agnew: It was Friday night, April 16th, in the team hotel of Italian Serie A side Siena. At 20.50 and 23.58 precisely, Siena midfielder Roberto D'Aversa, received two calls on his mobile phone from his former team-mate, goalkeeper Generoso Rossi.Euroscene

Unknown to the two players, investigators from the Naples branch of the DIA (Anti-mafia Investigative Taskforce) were listening in: "D'Aversa was in the team hotel prior to a match (a 2-1 home defeat to champions elect AC Milan) along with team mate Nicola Ventola," wrote the investigators in their report, adding: "On the explicit request of the last mentioned (Ventola), D'Aversa gave Rossi the results of five matches due to be played on Sunday 18th."

The five matches in question were Chievo-Reggina (0-0) in Serie A, Ascoli-Piacenza (0-0) in Serie B and Lumezanne-Sassari Torres (0-0), Taranto-Catanzaro (0-1) and Crotone-Fermana (3-0), all in Serie C. In his call, two nights before the games, D'Aversa had predicted all five results correctly.

That intercepted phone call is just one element in a wide-ranging investigation into an alleged match-fixing scandal which last week prompted police raids on the offices of 12 Italian football clubs - Chievo, Reggina, Lecce and Siena in Serie A, Ascoli and Piacenza in Serie B and Cantanzaro, Crotone, Fermana, Lumezzane, Sassari Torres and Taranto in Serie C.

Five players - Roberto D'Aversa, Nicola Ventola and Generoso Rossi of Siena, Salvatore Ambrosino of fourth division Grossetto and Vicenzo Onorato of Juve Stabia, also fourth division, are under investigation.

However, the investigating magistrates do not rule out the possibility that other players and clubs may yet be probed: "In the course of the investigation concrete evidence was acquired re the existence of a sophisticated organisation which has fixed the results and obviously the league tables of the current Serie A, B, and C championships. The investigation proves that agreements were regularly made to fix matches, that many different clubs were involved, that the matches were fixed in order to make unlawful gains (i.e. via betting)," write the magistrates.

In a season when Italian football continues to be rocked by a series of financial crises concerning cash-strapped clubs such as AS Roma, Lazio and Parma, the last thing needed was another scandal.

The Serie A championship, for example, finished last Sunday with a series of seemingly definitive verdicts - Milan champions; Milan, Roma, Juventus and Inter in the Champions League; Parma, Lazio and Udinese in the UEFA Cup; Empoli, Modena and Ancona relegated to Serie B.

Yet, within hours of the police raids last week, at least one side, Empoli, announced it would be contesting its eventual relegation, arguing that Siena, not Empoli, should be relegated for its involvement in match-fixing. In other words, a lot of club lawyers are going to be very busy over the next few months.

Needless to say, all the clubs have protested not only their innocence but also their total bemusement. For example, one of the alleged "fixed" games was Chievo's 1-1 draw with Siena on March 21st. One man who categorically rejects the notion of a fixed match, though, is Chievo coach Gigi Del Neri, who commented: "That was a draw fought out to the last. Our goalkeeper, Luca Marchegiani saved a penalty from Enrico Chiesa, while our opponents scored right at the end and only thanks to a great goal from Ventola. Frankly, this whole thing seems absurd to me."

Absurd it may seem, yet there are serious questions that need answering. How did an investigation that started with the surveillance of a Neopolitan camorrista (mafioso) lead investigators to Serie A footballers? How did Rossi manage to predict the results so accurately? Finally, is it likely that players from Serie A, where the lowest rung of wages is €300,000 per annum approx, would be willing to risk their careers for gambling wins (as recorded by the phone bugs) of €10-20,000? Stand by for a long hot summer.